In The End
by kaejae817
Summary: Their own success has cursed them, as Draco and Hermione will be seeing a lot of each other in their seventh year as head boy and girl. But their childhood is slipping away behind them, and as they face adulthood there will be plenty of hurtles to overcome. Just how much does a new perspective change a person? How much can one person even change? Slightly AU, Dramione
1. Why Me?

**AN: **Once upon a time, this pairing really bothered me. I'm a Draco fan, don't get me wrong, but not only is he absolutely wretched to her, but he was raised with a deep seated and thoroughly beaten in hatred of people like her. When you're young, a prejudice like that is far from easy to get over - especially when you're surrounded by people who think the same way. But in the end, they are both intelligent and ambitious people. Hermione is hopelessly forgiving, and there's plenty of room to flesh out what Draco's like around people who have gained his respect. So here is my attempt at a Dramione fic, and my hope that I don't completely botch it.

Disclaimer: All characters and premise for the story belong to J.K Rowling. I simply let my imagination run wild.

AUness: For the purpose of keeping the fic mostly focused on the pairing and school life, they are all attending a 'normal' seventh year. Dumbledore died in a different battle at the end of the last school year, Snape is headmaster, Draco is not - officially - a death eater, and the group does not yet have plans to go horcrux hunting, and Voldemort is not currently winning the war. Because it is my fic and I said so.

**In the End**

The fact that Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had been named head boy and head girl had come at a shock to nobody. Between Hermione's flawless record in both grades and (for the most part) behaviour, and Draco's pet status to the newly appointed headmaster Snape, the choice had been more than a little obvious.

That did not, however, make the news any better for either of them.

"I can't believe you're going to be stuck working with that twat Malfoy all year." Ron griped for the tenth time in the hour they had been sitting on the train. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes, his breath steaming against the cool glass of the window he was slumped against in boredom. Hermione repeated the gesture, tsk'ing as she flipped a page in her book.

"Yes, Ronald. I understood you the first time. Your mind simply cannot process it." She responded dryly, earning a small smirk from Harry and a nice red tinge to Ron's face.

"I'm only worried about you!" He defended hotly. "How many years have we been putting up with him, now? Exactly how much trouble has he caused? You're going to be sharing a room with him!" He spluttered on the last part, his face steadily creeping towards an unhealthy purple. Hermione sighed and snapped her book shut.

"Let's see. We've endured cruel, yet childish words. Pranks, set ups... yet, funnily enough, I can't remember a single circumstance where he's actually hurt us or put us in any serious danger. Can you, Harry?"

"Hey, leave me out of this!" He murmured, putting his hand up defensively. "You know I hate the prat."

"We all do!" Ron raged. "Why are you suddenly standing up for him?!"

"I'm not!" Hermione snapped. "I'm simply pointing out that while he is an annoying, selfish, foul, mean person, he isn't dangerous and rarely violent and therefore I have little to be concerned about. You can only be called a word so many times before it stops hurting. His opinion means nothing to me."

Harry raises his eyebrows at this, perceptive green eyes staring cooly at Hermione. He rarely failed to catch her bluffs, but thankfully he, unlike Ron, was polite enough to mostly keep it to himself. Harry knew full well that his friend had a somewhat fragile self-esteem, and that Malfoy's comments never failed to cut deep at her. He had seen her work tirelessly at becoming the best witch she could be long enough to know just how much the wizarding worlds' opinion of her meant to her.

Hermione kept a calm face, pointedly returning to her book and signalling the end of this conversation. Ron attempted to splutter a few more retorts before he realized that the battle was lost, and began a conversation with Harry about Quidditch this year.

They could hate the situation until they were blue in the face, but in the end the choice had been made and that was that. Hermione could take care of herself, they all knew that much at least. Harry only wondered how long it would be before Draco crossed his last line and got shipped off to St. Mungo's after tasting one of the many complex spells Hermione was capable of.

"A mudblood as head girl, it's an absolute mockery of the school." Narcissa hissed as the Malfoy family walked towards platform 9 and 3/4. The heels of her boots seemed to be clicking extra smartly across the cobblestones today, as if trying to help her express her irritation. Her husband scoffed at her comment.

"Come now, dear. As if the school could really make any more of a mockery of itself." He replied cooly. "It only gets worse every year. Besides, a mudblood was head girl your seventh year, as well."

"I had always assumed it was that fool Dumbledore." Narcissa sniffed. "When Snape was chosen to become headmaster I had hoped that things would start changing. That the Dark Lord's values would actually start spreading amongst our children."

"Severus may have always remained loyal to the Dark Lord, but so many years at Dumbledore's side must have infected his brain. And you know he's never quite had his head on straight about blood status. Just look at his infatuation with Potter - I guess it's too much to hope for a half blood to have proper values." Lucius' son made a choked sound at this.

"Professor Snape is bent?" He gasped, staring wide eyed at his father.

"Watch your tongue, Draco!" Narcissa quipped, earning a properly reproved look from her son. Dark eyebrows disappeared into Lucius' hairline and he smirked, cupping his son's shoulder.

"I didn't mean James Potter - I meant his wife. Severus followed her about, absolutely lovesick for years. It was rather revolting."

"Wasn't Potter's mother a mudblood?" Draco sneered.

"My point exactly."

_Well, there goes forty percent of my respect for Snape_. Draco thought dejectedly. It was such a shame to see a brilliant man's mind melted by such a sickening infatuation.

Draco's housemates seemed to be, unsurprisingly, in the same boat as his parents.

"You poor thing!" Pansy cooed, her voice dripping with sickening sweetness and sympathy as she settled Draco's head across her lap. He put on his best wounded face and stared hopelessly up at her, sighing when her fingers laced through his hair. Marvellous view of her rack, check. Hot girl doting on him, check. Male friends absolutely jealous? Ha, of course they were, for many reasons. But Pansy was certainly helping at the moment.

"I don't understand why you don't just turn the badge down." Theodore grumbled into his hand. "Better than living with a dirty little mudblooded know-it-all for the school year."

"And give up the glowing advantage on future job applications? The power over the rest of the student body? My own private bedchambers? I think not." Draco scoffed.

"Oh please, Draco." Blaise said evenly. "We all know you won't need help getting a job after school."

"Well of course, I _am _a Malfoy." Draco preened. "But every little advantage helps."

"But just think of the disadvantages." Pansy said, pouting down at him. He could hardly see her face over her chest - just the way he liked it.

"I prefer to think of it as a constant source of amusement for the school year. It keeps me from getting horribly depressed at the thought of being contaminated by her pressence. Just imagine, all the time I'll have to spend with her..."

The converstation continued much in the same fashion for the duration of the trip. Draco loved both talking about himself and having all attention on him - he was, by far, the most fascinating subject in that compartment after all. All of his companions, with the exception of Blaise and possibly Theodore, had the brains of small rodents. While useful, they could all be rather insufferable if allowed to prattle on for more than two minutes.

If nothing else, Draco wouldn't be forced to listen to Goyle's horrific snoring or endure Crabbe's whining about the strange itching and burning coming from his groin this year. Joy.

As the students filed out of the train, cool silver eyes met warm chocolate ones across the sea of robed adolescents. Draco's eyebrows lifted and his lips pulled into a smirk, only deepening when Granger's cheeks grew pink and her face pulled into a rather angry and flustered expression. Oh yes, she would be quite fun this year. He would just have to play his cards right.

And the Malfoys always knew how to control their hand.

**An:** That's it for chapter one. Please please please leave me any type of review, I live off of feedback!

And yes, I do favor the Slytherins. Possibly because I'm a Slytherin myself and it's a bit easier to get into their mindset. And yes, Draco IS one of my favorite characters but I'm trying desperately to keep him as canon as possible. Is it working, or am I over doing it? FEEDBACK PLEASE!

I like to be fast with chapters - this romance isn't going to come out of nowhere, but it's not going to take forever, either. Promise 3


	2. It's only the beginning

**AN: ** I noticed that my method of breaking up scene shifts and paragraphs didn't transfer over to the site, so hopefully the new method works. Thank you sophie for the story's very first review! Time to actually get into the story, now.

Hermione sat furiously scribbling on a piece of parchment as her classmates filed in around her, completely focused on what she was going to address in the prefect meeting tomorrow. There was so much to go over, she was having a hard time keeping the list short. She had begun to learn over the years that keeping things short was best, less she end up losing everybody's attention. Ron gave her an exasperated look as he settled in next to her, his eyes practically screaming 'are you seriously working right now?'. Hermione returned the look with a sharp one of her own; of _course_ she was working right now. She was head girl this year! There was so much responsibility in that title. Prefect rotations and guidelines, detention set up, etc. Not to mention her completely full class schedule; she was determined to get in as many classes as possible before Hogwarts was behind her forever. It also helped in keeping her open in the career department, as she still hadn't quite determined what she was going to do after school. The ministry seemed promising, but there were so many different departments...

The feeling of being watched bore into her skull, and she looked up with a frown. A glare flashed in her eyes - there _he_ was, looking at her again with that God awful smirk of his. And ugh, if he twitched his eyebrows at her one more time she swore she was going to hex them off. Hermione resisted the urge to growl when he wiggled his fingers tauntingly at her before growing bored and turning his attention to one of his friends. He really was going to do his best to dig at her all year, wasn't he? Hermione sighed, returning to her list. She supposed that thinking he would leave her be for sanity's sake was simply too much to ask for. Malfoy just wasn't capable of maturity.

The doors to the Great Hall swung open a moment later, and Hermione reluctantly tucked her list away as the first years began to file in. She always did love watching them get sorted. This, she realized with a pang of sadness, would be her last year seeing it, too. She chewed on her lip as they gathered before Proffessor McGonagall, their little faces staring up at the severe woman nervously. Had she really been that tiny her first year? It was so strange to think about.

The hat began it's song, crying out about strength in numbers and the need for unity in the four houses as they faced the dangers ahead. When it was finished, McGonagall unrolled her scroll and began calling out names, just as Hermione had seen her do so many times before. She paid close attention to the names and faces of the new students - in her last two years as prefect she had learned that first years had a particular penchant for mischeif - and cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindors when somebody was designated to their house. Snape followed with a rather short speech, and with that her final welcome back feast at Hogwarts began.

Hermione eyed the spread of food before her. She put a few small portions on her plate, chewing on her lip as she began pushing the food about the surface. With each passing minute she was realizing more and more how soon her time at Hogwarts was coming to an end, and it was doing wonders at killing her appetite as sadness sunk over her. Not to mention that at the end of the feast, she would be meeting first with Snape and McGonagall, then heading to her new rooms that she would be sharing with _him._ They would have to discuss the meeting tomorrow, they would have to decide on a password, they would have to agree on who gets what space - they'd have to interact. A lot. She was going to be dealing with him repetitively all year.

Regardless of what she'd said to Ron on the train, Hermione had been dreading this part of her seventh year. She had enough on her plate this year without having to worry about what the vile ferret would try to stir up. But she didn't want her friends to be more concerned than they already were so, as usual, she had mustered up a brave face and tried to reassure them that everything was going to be okay. But one person can only take so much stress, and as another glance at the still-smirking Malfoy told her, she was in for one stressful year.

Draco was bored. He swore the food got less impressive in this damn school every year, and he could hardly stomach the crap that had been placed before him this evening. It was nothing compared to the delicacies his family's top bred house elves prepared for him at home, and it certainly wasn't enough to distract him from remembering just how close that disgusting and irritating wench was going to be to him tonight, and every other night until he graduated. And of course, they had that stupid meeting tomorrow. Granger would want to beat plans for it to death, would be berating him about it, would drag it out far longer than necessary. He just knew it. But he held just as much power as her in this situation - if she was going to be obnoxious, he'd hit back. Harder.

When the feast - if you could even call it that - was over, Draco nearly forgot that he was expected to meet with Snape and McGonagall before heading to his rooms. Cursing loudly, he waved dismissively at his friends before he turned on his heel and approached the staffroom at the far end of the hall. Granger's bush of a hairstyle disappeared through the door ahead of him; it looked as if she had been sprinting. Draco rolled his eyes and strolled slowly into the room, his face bored as he settled into one of the chairs. He ignored whatever look McGonagall was giving him - he didn't care. Snape was headmaster, not her, and Snape liked Draco just fine.

Said head master swept into the room, bat-like as ever, turning sharply in front of the fire place. He crossed his hands in front of him as his black eyes settled over the two students before him, a stern look on his face. Granger sat upright and regarded her teachers eagerly, looking as if she would jump to the floor and play dead if one of them commanded her to. Draco forced himself not to snicker at the image flashing in his head as Snape began to speak.

"I have the utmost confidence that the two of you were the correct choices as head boy and head girl this year." Snape began cooly, his eyes locking on Draco as the boy snorted. "But don't think your...relationship has escaped my attention. I am well aware of your history for getting into arguments, some of them ending...violently," he glared at Hermione, who blushed. "Understand this. I expect a lot of the both of you this year. You are no longer children, but adults - you are required to act as such. Petty arguments can be set outside of your duties. It is time the both of you grew up and learned how to work together, because out in the real world you don't choose the people you get to work with." Hermione nodded at this, listening intently, and Draco rolled his eyes yet again. He didn't know who Snape thought he was fooling, McGonagall obviously picked Granger. What was the point of putting on this little show?

"Your duties are rather simple." McGonagall said. "You will create the schedule for the prefects of the school. You will meet all of the new ones in the meeting tomorrow, the rest of whom you both already know. You assign who watches over what detentions, where the prefects are patrolling, etc. Be cautious and fair when you are setting up locations. You both know how this school works well enough to understand who should go where. If a serious concern arises you are to come to the headmaster or myself. If we hear about any courruption, there will be serious consequences." Her glasses flashed as she looked at them, waiting for questions.

"You will be sharing quarters this year, as well." Snape broke in. "They are situated on the third floor, and set up similarly to the house areas. You will have a common room, a bathroom, and each of you your own bedroom. You are not permitted to have guests in your room overnight, and curfew for guests applies as it does for the rest of the students. The curfew no longer applies to either of you, but do not think that that gives your friends immunity. It is _only_ the two of you and prefects on duty who may be roaming the halls after hours."

Draco liked how these two teachers were always keen on getting straight to the point. McGonagall may be a bloody Gryffindor, but she was far more tolerable than the other idiots who were allowed to teach here. And what with his new discovery of Snape's love of mudbloods, she was tied as his favorite. "Are there any questions?" She asked. Draco groaned. Why in Merlin's name did she have to ask that?

Granger, of course, came up with a dozen questions off the bat. Minutes ticked by into an hour, before Snape finally cut her off with a sharp 'enough.' The two of them were dismissed with directions to their room, and a final reminder to behave themselves.

"How many times do you suppose we have to be told to behave ourselves?" Draco mused outloud as they walked through the now deserted corridors towards their rooms. They were on the third floor this year - he was going to miss being able to see into the lake though the common room window.

"You can't blame them. We don't exactly get along." Hermione replied, her face stony as she looked determinedly in any direction but him.

"No shit, but why bother making us head boy and girl if they can't trust us not to murder each other? Professor Snape especially should know that murder is far too messy for me to get my own hands into." Granger's look of horror at him made Draco grin with success.

"Of course, don't even address the fact that it's completely _wrong_."

"Really Granger, does it even have to be said? I need to state the obvious? And here I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius." Draco continued to grin as the flustered girl's cheeks began to darken.

"Just shut up, Malfoy." She snapped.

"Ooh, and such smart come backs, too. I can practically feel the sting." He sighed.

"We haven't been alone five minutes and you already can't resist being a pompous ass?" Draco raised his eyebrows at the tiny note of pleading in the girl's voice. Over a bit of downright playful banter? Pathetic.

"I am simply trying to make conversation, Granger. You were the one who attempted to push it into an argument. I, however, being mature and reasonable, am maintaining my composure."

Hermione scoffed. "Oh yes, you are so very reasonable," They arrived at their quarters, the large portrait of a rather pretty ghost girl swinging open before them. Hermione pushed inside. "You only hate half the student body simply because of the way they were born."

It was a moment before she got a response to this. Hermione looked back at him expectantly, her eyes flashing and her cheeks pink with irritation. That and the fact that she had speed walked the whole way here.

"That's not true." He finally said in what was a rather cold and quiet voice. Draco turned and walked towards the bedroom on the right, spying his things through the open door. Hermione's mouth parted slightly, a little too surprised for a quick response. When he began to disappear, she found her words again.

"Malfoy, we have to figure out the password to the dormitory. And what we're saying in the meeting tomorrow afternoon." He ignored her, slamming his bedroom door shut. "Malfoy! UGH!" She stormed out of the dormitory, growing more frustrated by the moment. She had to keep her cool - he couldn't keep getting to her like this. So much she had to focus on...he was the least important.

"Did you two decide on a password?" The ghost girl, Pandora by the frame's description, said sweetly. Hermione chewed on her lip for a moment.

"Mandragora." She said finally. Hopefully his brain wasn't so overly swollen with that disgusting pride of his that he couldn't remember the name of a plant. Pandora nodded politely and swung back open when Hermione told her she was going back inside. She wandered around the main room for a moment, examining it carefully.

It was decorated with silver and gold accents this year. They had a large window covering the back wall overlooking the grounds, and the entrances to their bedrooms sat on either side of it. The expansive bathroom was two her right, split into three rooms - bathing, loo, and the main room which held two sinks, two mirrors, and two cupboards for bathroom belongings. The common room area was spacious and welcoming - there were couches scattered all over the floor and a roaring fireplace on one end. She spied a chess board off in one corner and an astronomers globe by the window. Across from the bathroom was a study area, she supposed. There were two large, fancy desks on either side of the room and bookshelves lined every wall.

Her own room was decorated in red and gold, her belongings already there as expected. She had a small desk in one corner and her own fireplace; perhaps avoiding Malfoy this year wouldn't be overly hard. Outside their duties, anyway. Sighing, she changed into her night clothes and settled in at her desk with her list.

Hermione examined her list and added to it as her mind continued to buzz. What had he meant exactlly, when he'd said 'that's not true?'. Was he simply trying to confuse her? It was certainly working. Because everybody knew that Malfoy hated mudbloods, and barely tolerated halfbloods. He was just playing around.

Right?


	3. Are you ready to rumble?

**AN: **_Still_ haven't figured out the line breaks! Sorry about the sudden scene shifts for now, I'm working on it guys I promise

**Chapter Three** Are you ready to rumble?

There was an irritating light on Draco's eyes when he snapped out of his dream the next morning. It didn't matter which way he turned, how hard he scrunched his eyes, it wouldn't go away. Cursing, he finally bolted upright and glared in the offending direction.

Ah, the sun.

Peculiar as it may sound to an average person, Draco wasn't used to the sun disrupting his eyes when he woke up. Back at home the canopy around his bed was so thick it dulled noise on the other side, and the Slytherin dormitories were under ground...no sunlight there. Annoyed, he threw his blankets away from himself and swung his legs over the bed, rubbing at his face. He would have to see about getting some heavy curtains for those damn windows. How in the world people could stand that every morning was beyond him.

Yawning, Malfoy gathered his school uniform and wandered out of his room, eyes searchign the room blearily for the bathroom door. It was of course the last one he tried, and was, of course, locked. He could just barely make out the sound of water running from the other side of the door. "Granger! Open up!"

There was a pause, the sound of the water stopping. "I got in here first, Malfoy. You're just going to have to deal with it." She called back. Stupid morning person mudblood.

"I have half an hour before breakfast starts and I need time to get ready, damn it! I know that bathroom is built for two people now _let me in_!" She growled and he heard the door clicked before she flung it open. Her hair was wet, her cheeks rosy from the recent shower. Her white school shirt was clinging to her still-damp skin, and her eyes looked rather big for some reason. Draco blinked. And then blinked again. Had he ever actually _looked_ at her before?

Huh. He supposed he never really had.

Draco shrugged and shoved past her, heading straight for the shower room. She simply rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the mirror, resuming whatever girls did in the morning. "We have to talk about that meeting we're having this afternoon." She called through the apparently thinner door a few minutes later. He groaned and leaned away from the water stream.

"What is there to talk about, exactly? We go to the room, meet the newbies, lay out some rules, and go on with our lives." It's not that difficult, he thought to himself.

"We haven't decided the rules! We haven't laid out tonight's rotation either! Malfoy, I'm not doing this by myself!"

"Looks like we're just going to have to wing it, then." He said, smirking when he opened the door to face her. Hermione's face darkened immediately. The steam from the bathroom was billowing out around Malfoy, his damp hair stuck to his stupid smirking face. Of their own accord, her eyes locked onto a droplet of water as it left his hair and travelled down his cheek...his neck...his bare chest...and disappeared into the towel he was cluthing around his waist. He cleared his throat a moment later. "I would really prefer _not_ to have you looking at me like that, Granger." He sneered. She gave him a scathing glare, snapping out of her daze with a start.

"Well maybe you should have put the clothes you brought with you on _before_ you opened the door you irritating spoiled git." She seethed, turning away and storming out of the bathroom. Draco blinked and looked back into the room, noticing the neatly folded uniform off in the corner. Ah. He had brought clothes in there.

(Insert witty linebreak comment here)

He was the single most infuriating human being she had ever come across. It was as simple as that. They couldn't even go twenty four hours without him driving her insane at least twice. Maybe Ron was right (for once). Could she put up with this for a full school year? She was already ready to rip her hair out!

Grumbling to herself, Hermione yanked a new notebook out of her bookbag and slumped down at her desk. It looked like she wouldn't be joining her friends for most of breakfast that morning; _somebody_ had to figure out who was going to be watching the corridors for the night. They would just have to wait for the rest of the week's schedule until that evening...she could squeeze in time to put it together during one of her breaks...maybe? Oh, this was so frustrating! He was supposed to be helping her with this, she didn't have time to do it alone!

"See you at the meeting!" Draco called, overly cheerfully, as he left the room. Growling, Hermione whipped a random heavy object in the direction of his voice. She only had the ten to two shift sorted out - she still needed to figure out who was doing the two to six. It took nearly half an hour to skim through the list and finish up. Stomach growling, Hermione raced down to the Great Hall to get what she could before classes began. Harry raised his eyebrows at her when she collapsed into her seat.

"Do _not_ do that." She told him, shivering a little as she hurriedly grabbed at whatever was in arm's reach.

"Uhm, do what?" He questioned as he and Ron stared at Hermione wolfing down food.

"Wiggle your eyebrows like that. _He_ does that. Don't do it." She mumbled through a mouthful of muffin.

"You got a little, uh..." Ron murmured nervously, gesturing to his chin. Hermione swallowed thickly and wiped at her face, gulping in a breath of air. "So, night one went well I'm guessing? I should hold back on the 'I told you so'?" The withering glare Hermione sent Ron at this was enough to make him recoil, and the conversation quickly changed topic.

"So how come you went and gave yourself such a full schedule this year?" Harry questioned, glancing at the paper that McGonagall had just passed Hermione. "Don't get me wrong, I know you do it every year. But this is supposed to be our slacking year."

"It's my last chance to take any of these classes!" Hermione argued, her eyes wide. "At the end of the year it's going to be time to start looking into what I'm going to study for a career path!"

"No kidding." Ron snickered. "You'd spend the rest of your life studying _everything_ in University if you had the chance."

"You could be a professional student." Harry smiled as Ron snickered at his side.

"Ha. Ha." Hermione mumbled around yet another mouthful of food. "Oh, drat." The bell was tolling out in the tower, signalling time for the students to begin shuffling to their classes.

The first day of school turned out to be the perfect distraction from Hermione's stressful morning. She had three classes before lunch, all of them advanced placement. She adored the small sizes of her classes - it meant more oppurtunity to discuss class topics with the teacher. By the time she was shuffling back towards the Great Hall, her already heavy knapsack had at least tripled in weight with added material and her homework for the weekend. She hated it when the school year started close to the weekend.

Lunch mostly consisted of watching Harry and Ron nudge at each other and talk about their basic classes for the year. Harry had made it into seventh year defense against the dark arts, and apparently Ron had even managed to scrape his way in - it was the only class that the three of them had together this year - Ron hadn't made it into seventh year potions, transfiguration, or charms.

Hermione smiled lightly as they talked about how excited they were to see what kind of spells they would be learning this year. The excitement was only boosted by the fact that, to everybody's surprise, Lupin had been asked to return as teacher this year. Hermione was surprised he even accepted the position again; she didn't figure many newlyweds wanted to be trapped in a castle for the majority of a year. But there he was at the staff table with Tonks, chatting away happily. She could only pray that they wouldn't get hit by the strange curse that seemed to haunt the teachers of that class: Lupin had gotten off easy the first time.

"Why do you suddenly look so worried?" Harry questioned her, pulling Hermione out of her slight reverie.

"She's probably not looking forward to running that meeting with Malfoy after lunch." Ron said plainly. Hermione groaned and dropped her head against the table.

"Ohhh, I completely forgot about that!" Harry gave her a very sympathetic look. Ron's seemed to convey more of an 'I told you so'.

"Why don't you just ditch?" He asked.

"I can't ditch, Ron." She moaned, exasperated. "I'm head girl! This isn't like missing a meeting as a prefect. I'm running it! I need to meet the new people, and make sure everybody knows the rules and rotations..."

"Well, I'm not going - "

"You are NOT ditching the meeting!" Hermione argued, cutting him off. "I don't _care_ that Lavender replaced me as Gryffindor prefect, you are going to be at that meeting or I swear I will have you written up! I know you have nothing important to do on your break."

"You'd seriously write me up?" Ron asked, astounded.

"Of course I would! You're a prefect Ron, you have a responsibility to the school. Come on, we won't have many meetings at all. I'll have everybody's weekly schedule delivered at breakfast when I finish it tonight, and I won't call another until there's a problem..." Ron snorted in disbelief, staring unhappily down at the table.

"Stupid Lavender's going to be giving me that weird, crazy look she gives me all the time...you better not have me stuck on patrols with her!" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Of course I didn't." She sighed. "I tried to mix it up so that the pairs weren't from the same house, or at least not the same year. To try to keep things fair, you know, not let people off the hook just because they're friends or from the same house..."

"Of course you went that far into it." Ron teased.

"It's what I do, Ron. Surely you know that by now?"

(Really, how did her smarts never rub off on them? Anybody ever wonder that?)

Draco really didn't want to go to this stupid meeting. There were plenty of other things he could be doing on his break than sit in front of a group of his classmates and listen to Granger ramble on about responsibility and work. He didn't bother looking for a bright side, because he was sure it would only make him find more things that would suck. The whole situation was downright miserable. He could be sneaking Pansy into his new room for a quick shag, or looking around the school for his new first year targets. Anything but this.

Yet, there he was, walking into the prefect meeting room. The first one there, as he usually was. Malfoys were always punctual. He sighed and grabbed the prefect roster, glancing down it curiously. He wondered if Granger had assigned them to be walking the halls that night. Probably; if the irritating workaholic had her way, she'd probably run both shifts nightly. It was pathetic. If she thought for a moment he would be doing that...

"Surprised to see you here." And there's that grating voice now.

"And why wouldn't I be, exactly?"

"Don't you have some random girl to be snogging? A defenseless and terrified first year to be bullying? Why don't you just leave me to the adult things." Hadn't he just been thinking about both of those things not moments before? Well, that was weird.

"I hate to break it to you, Granger, but you're not an adult. You're a student. And guess what, it's my job too. Now let me see the schedule for tonight."

"No." She replied haughtily as she emptied her bag onto the desk at the front of the room.

"What do you mean, no?" He demanded.

"I mean no. I made the list, you didn't help, so you can see it when I post it at the end of the meeting like everybody else."

"I have a say in that list, now let me see it."

"If you had taken ten minutes to stop being a pompous ass this morning, maybe you would already know what was on it." She replied, giving him a very flat look. "As it turns out, I was left to miss half of breakfast because I did it _alone_ and now you can miss out on putting your friends and yourself where you want. AH!" Hermione gasped as her wrist was grabbed and she was yanked around. She was, very suddenly, looking up into angry, stormy grey eyes as he loomed over her with an impressively deadly look. Hermione let out a very small, unimpressive sound as she heard the shuffling of paper behind her.

Draco smirked. "Thank you." He sneered, waving the paper in front of her before he retreated. Hermione fumed, ripping her wand out of her robes and rounding on him angrily.

"Malfoy, you son of a -"

"Whoa, whoa, already you two?" Professor Lupin had arrived, surging between the pair of them and holding his hands up defensively to Hermione. "Come on Hermione, you know better. Put your wand away."

"I do believe that is a violation of school policy." Draco droned, examining his fingernails.

"Well, how about I overlook you pushing down that little boy this morning and we call it even?" Professor Lupin countered. Draco's mouth opened, then immediately snapped back shut. Hermione smirked at him.

"He took the rotations for tonight," Hermione began with a pleading look to Lupin.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Lupin wondered, confused.

"See, that's what I said." Draco said in that irritating, over done fashion he was so fond of. "I was just checking to make sure everything looked okay. For example, the Slytherin prefect who replaced me...Blaise? You can't pair him off with the Vane girl. He's a complete womanizer and would be making moves on her all night."

"Well _fix_ it then." Hermione hissed, turning back towards the desk. Other prefects began wandering into the room as Draco flashed a fake smile at her back, placing himself with the very attractive Romilda for the night.

"I told him this was a bad idea..." Lupin muttered. "Well, if you two have any questions, I'll be in the back."

"Oh look, we have a baby sitter. See Granger, everybody knows about your violent tendencies. I wouldn't be surprised if they had you on a watchlist for Azkaban."

"Malfoy, so help me, if you say another word, I'll - "

"You'll what, Granger?" He breathed, his face dangerously close to hers once again. His voice had dropped several octaves, and once again she found herself at a strange lack of words. "That's what I thought." Draco straightened, greeting a few Slytherins as they entered. Hermione shook herself slightly and turned to address the room.

"Welcome back, everybody." Hermione greeted them as cheerfully as she could.

"Look, we're going to keep this short." Draco cut in. Hermione glared at him. "I have a booklet for each of you detailing the guidelines that you're all following for the year. Our rules, our responsibilities, our priviledges. What happens when you break the rules." Hermione stared at Draco, surprised. They never had a booklet. Did he...? "You break the rules, you're going to deal with me. And trust me, you don't want to deal with me when you're taking time out of my busy schedule." Ron snorted at this from the back corner of the room, and Draco glared at him. "Thanks for volunteering to work a double tomorrow, Weasley. It's so hard to cover Saturday nights."

"You can't do that!" Ron argued. "He can't do that, right, Hermione?"

"Don't interrupt, Ron." Hermione simply said. He gaped at her. Draco continued.

"It's not hard to follow, guys. Read the rules, ask us if you have any questions. We'll let you know ahead of time when we're going to have meetings, and we're delivering their schedules to them, right?" He asked, looking at Hermione. She simply nodded. "Now only tonight's schedule is done, you'll get the rest of the week's at either breakfast or lunch tomorrow. All of you have some kind of shift tonight, so come read this before you leave." Draco waved the paper around and put it on the desk behind him. "And that's it."

The group turned to Hermione, who only nodded again. "Yeah...that's it." Everybody got up and shuffled forward to see the schedule, Draco collecting his things and walking to the back of the room.

"Malfoy - when did you make that booklet?" She asked, catching up to him quickly.

"Hmm? Over the summer, when I got my letter. Every year I droned out what the Heads were saying, it was boring. I figured give somebody something they can look at on their own time, and reference when they forget something, and it works out better for everybody."

"But that must have taken some time -"

"Of course it took time." He snorted. "But it's saving me time in the long run. Jeesh, Granger. Don't look so shocked. I actually do take my responsibilities seriously. Now look, the way I figure doing the schedule." He stopped walking and turned towards her, a very bored look on her face.

"Oh, so you're actually going to help me?" She retorted. He rolled his eyes.

"If you weren't acting completely obnoxious and oversensitive last night, I could have helped you." He argued. "Look. We hate each other. Common fact. It's not going to change any time soon. So how about this - I do the schedule for Saturday through Tuesday, and you do it for Wednesday through Friday?"

"Why do I get less days?"

"Because you have a ridiculous number of classes and I would like to see the schedules out on time, thank you very much. You can do more detentions than me or something." Hermione huffed, but couldn't find much reason to argue. If she ran detentions, she could do her homework during them. It did work out quite well. The little ferret was more intelligent than he led on. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Pansy is waiting for me."

Or maybe he wasn't.


	4. Truce?

**An:** I'm going as slow as I planned, so I thought I would pop in a little treat :) Maybe the rating should go up? Hmm. If you suddenly can't find the story anymore in the future, try looking under the M ratings.

**Chapter Four** Thin Lines

Hermione was shaking. Her knees, her hands - even her stomach was trembling a little. Her breathing rapid and shallow, she could barely force herself to swallow as he nuzzled against her neck, pressing closer to her. A warm hand cupped her inner thigh, stroking and massaging as it moved north at a torturously slow place. She panted, forcing herself not to moan as he began sucking on her neck. His other hand crept up the back of her shirt, resting on the small of her back as he tugged her closer again.

He was so warm it almost felt like her back was on fire. Closer...closer...she couldn't press close enough to him. Every time she tried to he would make a light tsking sound, the vibrations dancing deliciously across her pulse as he pulled away. She let out a rather embarrassing whimper, pressing her thigh harder into his hand instead. He chuckled as his second hand rose, her chest feeling heavier as he undid the clasp on her bra. Hermione moaned and titled her head back against his shoulder.

She was spun around a moment later, her suddenly bare back shoved into the startlingly cold wall. Her gasp quickly cut off into another moan as she was hoisted up the wall, her legs wrapping around his waist. Their hips made contact, and the friction felt absolutely wonderful. He ground against her experimentally and she groaned happily, her head thrown back and her neck exposed invitingly. He nipped at the sensative skin there, and began mumbling something into it while one of his hands began to fondle her. What was he saying...? It took her a few moments to work out the words.

"You don't deserve this." She blinked and looked down, her eyes locking onto half lidded grey ones so darkened by lust they were nearly black.

ooooo

Hermione woke with a start, gasping for air as she wrenched her blankets away from her sweat-soaked body. She did _not_ just have that dream. No, no way in Hell did she just dream that. Shaking slightly, she climbed out of bed and began making her way to the bathroom. Her knees were trembling, reminding her uncomfortably of her dream. Hermione chewed on her lip as she turned the faucet on, splashing ice cold water against her face. Why is it that when she wanted to remember a dream, it faded by the second, but when she wanted more than anything to forget a dream...it wouldn't go away? She groaned and slid down the bathroom wall, cradling her head between her knees.

"All right, Hermione?" A soft female voice echoed around the bathroom. Hermione jerked her head upright, staring. Romlida Vane stood a few feet away from her, hair mussed and lips swollen. She was wearing nothing but the school issue knee high socks and white oxford. Concern warmed her face as she crouched down next to her. "Are you feeling sick?"

"You're not supposed to be here." Hermione responded, more snippishly than intended. Romilda recoiled.

"I was about to leave, just came in here to freshen up. We lost track of the time..."

Hermione snorted. "Of course you did." She stood up, dusting herself off and and pulling herself together. She lifted her chin and looked down on her housemate. Romilda had been notorious for her catty, flirty, boyfriend stealing ways throughout their school career. She was the perfect example of a _not_ chivalrous Gryffindor. "Detention, tomorrow night. Or should I say tonight, since I'm sure it's well into Saturday by now." Romlida's face darkened and she stood up with a huff.

"Jealousy really isn't your color, Granger." She sniffed, sashaying out of the bathroom. Hermione glared after her, making a mental note to have her detention details sent to her, along with a Gryffindor point reduction. And, speaking of point deductions...

The sound of conversation bled through the closed door, and Hermione crept closer to listen. Romilda, whining to Draco about how she had just been given direction. From the sound of his voice, he didn't seem overly sympathetic. This was only confirmed by Romilda raising her voice angrily, followed by the sound of her stomping out of the room. Hermione allowed herself a small smile. A few moments of silence passed. Then..."Thanks for chasing her off for me, Granger. I was wondering how I could get rid of her." Hermione ripped the door open, only to find herself face to face with the smirking bastard.

"Here's an idea," she quipped. "Maybe next time, don't bring her here in the first place."

"Hmm." His eyes turned skyward as he pretended to mull it over. "Nah, that's no good. I mean, what's the point of having my own room if I'm not going to make use of the privacy?" He smirked. Again.

"It's not meant for that, Malfoy!"

"And it's meant for what, exactly? Quiet study time?"

"I'm sure that the founders of the school made private rooms for the head boy and girl simply so they could...could...fornicate in them!" Draco laughed, fully and genuinely. Hermione blinked, taken aback. She'd never heard him laugh like that before. He wasn't...enjoying this, was he? Was he really that sick? It shouldn't surprise her. "What are you laughing about?" She demanded.

"You - you can't even say the word!" He managed through his laughter. "Come _on_ Granger, you're seventeen! And Krum's gone and told just about everybody what happened between the two of you on Durmstrang's ship, the night of the Yule Ball." Hermione's face glowed scarlet at this, only encouraging more laughter from Malfoy.

"That is NONE of your business, Malfoy!" She screeched, punching him in the jugular. Malfoy lunged back, making a rather sick choking sound as he gripped his throat. Fuming, Hermione raced back to her bedroom and slammed the door closed, spelling it against opening by force before he regained his composure. Chest rising and falling rapidly as she huffed in anger, Hermione began pulling at her hair. He was actually driving her that crazy - she was literally _pulling her hair out_. Well, now she understood where the term came from. She sat heavily at her desk and yanked a bitch of parchment in front of her, moving her quill across it quickly as she began a rather furious letter to Krum. How dare he! He swore to her that he'd never tell anybody! And there's no way Malfoy could have known, not without being told.

After scribbling out a few pages of the most colorful angry words she could think of, Hermione sat back feeling satisfied. She would simply climb back into bed now, and sleep until morning time came.

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"Oh, come on Granger." Draco called through her door half an hour later, banging on it insistently. At first, he hadn't been sure why he was bothering with this. Not only was she a mudblood, but she was a know-it-all, goody two shoes, Potter groupie, Gryffindor. But they had only been stuck together for just under two days now, and he'd already been socked in the throat. Clearly, something had to change. For the sake of his life if anything. He shuddered to think what kind of mind bending hexes the little bookworm had stumbled across in her obsessive reading. He certainly wasn't about to become her training dummy. "We can't keep doing this, we both know that. Come on, let's talk about it." On the other side of the door, Hermione slowly sat up in her bed and listened, remaining silent. Draco growled lightly.

He was using his best sweet voice and everything. He sighed, dragging his hands across his face. Draco knew that Granger wasn't going to be this easy: he had known it since the moment he read his letter. She wasn't going to be so easily manipulated. Initially he had assumed he would entertain himself by screwing with her all year, but again...being hexed was painful. He didn't handle pain well. So now he had to be the sucker waving the white flag. Draco hated the damn white flag. It made one look pathetic and needy, two things that he most certainly was _not._ But he had to figure something out, less he started losing limbs.

"Look, I was lying, okay? You got me. Hell, you got me to admit a lie Granger. Good job!" Hermione smirked at this, leaning back against her headboard. She decided she was going to let him continue his little tirade. "I didn't actually know that you and Krum did anything, I had simply made a guess. A really good guess apparently, but still. I mean come on, you chased off my date." The door opened in front of him and Draco relaxed a little.

"You say that as if it makes you unhappy." Hermione mumbled as she looked blankly up at the tired looking boy. He shrugged.

"Eh. She has certain...talents that I enjoy. But outside of that, she gets rather obnoxious." Draco gave her a forcibly sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head. Hermione just rolled her eyes. The fact that a nice bruise was forming on Draco's throat was making her happy enough to get less irritated with him. "Look, like I said. We can't keep fighting like this -"

"_You_ -"

"Granger!" Draco held up his hands defensively. "Don't turn it into an argument again!" Hermione recoiled, chewing on her lip. Damn him for being intelligent.

"No, you're right." She admitted heavily. "It doesn't matter who started it, we can't keep arguing every three seconds like this." Draco smiled.

"Exactly. So. Truce?" He held out his hand, staring at her evenly. Hermione stared back at him, searching his face for any hint of mischeif. Finally, a solid minute later, she hesitantly grasped his hand and nodded.

"Yeah. Truce."

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**AN** Short chapter, I know, but with their forced truce those strange feelings can begin to bloom! It's going to gain momentum, I swear. And it will only go faster with encouragement...reviews help the story survive!


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